If I Only Had the Heart
by kusudama.ball
Summary: Five years down the line, Alexis reconnects with an old friend and battles old demons. post-canon, Jaden x Alexis


Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or The Maine.

* * *

People change in five years.

Alexis knew this first-hand. Growing up was never easy, but somehow she made it work, forgotten high school aspirations turned to real-life jobs and her own little dueling school in the suburbs. Kids ranging from three to ten came to her daily, talking traps and spells and monsters like nobody's business. She coaches them through the basics: chaining, setting face-downs, fusions. Then they grow too old for her and are sent off to dueling prep schools, leaving her with farewell hugs and bittersweet memories.

She never made the pro dueling circuit. The competitors there duel circles around her and she remembers all the reasons she dropped studying abroad. The adrenaline, the thrill, even the subtle nuances of a good draw-after graduating from Duel Academy, things never seemed right again.

"Miss Lexy, can you help me with my deck? I don't think I have the right cards for something." It was one of her kids: little Alexis. Her chubby toddler fingers are wrapped around a deck of fairy-themed cards that they assembled together two weeks ago.

"Of course, sweetie. Here, why don't you go sit down, and I'll find a couple of the cards that could help." Little Alexis smiled. Her grin is a study in unbridled joy, the kind that children are prone to. It reminds Alexis of a similar smile, but on a much older face.

Red. Alexis grabs a red card and joins her younger counterpart at the table. Little Alexis lays all of her cards down with unsteady fingers, shakily putting them in uneven rows and columns.

"I wanted to do the fusion and summon this-" She points at _St. Joan_, her decks most powerful card. "-but Mickie said I couldn't do that. But I had both of these on the field!"

Little Alexis picks up both _The Forgiving Maiden_ and _Marie the Fallen One, _the two elements of her stronger monster.

Her teacher grins at the girl's adorable troubled face. For Alexis, the solution is simple enough, but the toddler treats the problem as a unforgiving obstacle. "Yes, Lexi, but did you play _Polymerization_?"

Her little face crinkles into a gasp of astonishment. Her lesson on fusion was three days ago; Lexi must have forgotten. She pulls the aforementioned card from its place on the table and stacks it on top of her two monsters. Her excitement is tangible.

"Thank you, Miss Lexy! I bet I can beat Mickie now!" Little Alexis sweeps her cards together and rushes off to challenge the older boy. Alexis perches on her seat watching the young girl go, a foreign feeling sweeping across her heart.

If she were wiser, or less proud, she could have called it envy. But the grown Alexis is still too stubborn to admit to chasing after the dreams she left behind at Duel Academy. This is how her days pass now-coaching new, upcoming duelists through the ropes of the game, hoping to one day see one of their faces in the big leagues.

The clock strikes six with a start. Around her, her kids gasp, dismayed, and parents arrive one by one to pick their children up. She makes a little small talk, gives a little advice-and before long, the schoolhouse is cleared, and she's all alone in the large, echoing room.

Alexis shakes aside a vague loneliness. Queen of the Obelisk Blue Alexis was never lonely, and she would've never admitted to finding comfort from the Elemental Heroes card one of her kids had dropped. It was probably Mickie, the little squirt-he was one of her favorite students, and a true genius on the playing field. She tucked the card inside her purse with a sigh.

_I should probably drop by Mr. Truesdale's to check out those new cards he ordered_, she thought, sliding a metal key into the door's lock. With the door's click of finality, she walked away from her schoolhouse, giving it one last fond look.

Mr. Truesdale was, for Alexis, a lucky find. Zane and Syrus' uncle, he had opened a card shop only a couple block from Alexis' school. A couple of time she would take her students there to study his cards, but mostly, she hung around to talk with Mr. Truesdale. He was a nice guy; shy, but not overwhelmingly so, and he treated her like a favored younger sister. It didn't hurt that he always had the best cards too, which her sold to her for reduced prices that fit right with her teacher's salary.

His shop, the _Truesdale Card House, _was tucked away in a neat alcove between two larger buildings. The walls were a cherry red and the sign a bright yellow; Alexis smiled at the sight. The shop was like her home away from home, complete with Atticus-like brother figure and duel monster cards.

"Hello, Mr. Truesdale!" Alexis beamed as she opened the door. The bell rung above her, and he turned from behind a counter, glasses askew and arms akimbo, but grinning all the same.

"Alexis! I trust you're here for the new shipment?" She spotted a box of cards behind him, the reason for his scruffy appearance. Inside were stacks of new booster packs.

Alexis couldn't contain an excited squeal. She was running low on cards and recently received a whole batch of new students-those packs were the perfect thing. Mr. Truesdale smiled. "And I'll even sell them twenty-five percent off to my favorite duel monsters teacher, as long as she helps me unpack them."

"Deal. I'd unpack a mountain of boxes to get at these cards!" Alexis jumped the counter with ease, and tore straight into the box. The foil wrapping slid through her fingers like sand; soon enough, she already had half the packs on shelves. From the bunch, she had spotted cards for zombie, pyro, and spell caster decks; she even saw a new card for the Elemental Heroes line that Mickie was sure to love.

Dimly, the ring of a bell that announced the arrival of a new customer registered in the back of her mind. But Alexis was facing in the opposite direction of the door, and didn't see the stranger as they walked in.

"Hello, and welcome to the _Truesdale Card House_! May I help you with something?" Alexis smiled at the typical greeting. It reminded her of the days when she was an aspiring duelist, frantically searching card shops for those cards that were just right. From behind her, the stranger laughed. A light-hearted chuckle, with weary undertones and a faint sheepishness.

It shouldn't have, but her heart skipped a beat.

"Nah, I just came to browse." The stranger said, and a rustle told her he had stopped to examine one of the packs she had just put up.

Her heart stopped.

_It can't be, I won't believe it._

In hindsight, she could think of a thousand different ways she could have better managed the situation: identifying then implementing the fastest escape route out of the shop. Cowering quietly behind the counter until he left. Pretending she was a statue, and trying to blend into the wall. But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and instead, Alexis whirled around with enough speed to put a bullet train to shame. The words were out of her mouth before she even had time to think.

"Jaden?"

He tilted his head in her direction, and her eyes roved greedily over his face, lapsing up all of his features. Five years, it had been five years, and he was the same. His eyes the same coffee brown and his hair as crazy ever. A good few inches taller than her, maybe, and burdened by five years of travel on his red shirt, black jacket and jeans, but still, the same Jaden Yuki from back at Duel Academy. She even spotted the same duel deck case strapped onto his leg, and the familiar duel disk on his arm.

But untrue to typical Jaden Yuki style, the first thing he didn't wasn't grin, or wink, or even challenge her to a duel. He just stood, motionless, staring at her as with a blank look in his eye.

The sly voice in the back of her head whispered that five years had passed, and she wasn't the same, that her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and her skirt was long enough to cover her knees. The old Alexis would've never looked like that. The old Alexis would've never tied herself down to one place either, and she'd been teaching in Domino City for three years already.

For Jaden, something clicked. Alexis shifted nervously, because it meant, for a second, he'd forgotten her.

"Lex! I haven't seen you in years! How are you doing these days? How's Atticus? And how can I get that Elemental Hero card you're holding?" He grinned at her. Alexis glanced down at her hands; sure enough, she was still holding the new Heroes card she had planned on buying for Mickie. For some reason, that bothered her. Alexis considered herself relatively patient, having dealt with toddler duelists for years, but this annoyed her, and even if it was Jaden, she was planning on showing it.

"Really, Jaden? I haven't seen you for five whole years, and all you're interested in is this stupid card? Well if you like it that much, you can have it, and I'll just be going!" She shoved the card in his direction. Mr. Truesdale gave a low whistle beside her.

Jaden scratched nervously at the back of his head. Alexis noticed he was using his left hand: the duel disk clinked slightly against the shelf above him. The little things always seemed more prominent with Jaden: the twinkle in his eye, the worn-out but well cared for condition of his deck, the _Polymerization _card he had picked up.

With a sigh, Alexis lessened her grip on the card. It slid onto the counter with a whisper. "Well, Jaden, I see you're the same as always." A small smile appeared on her face. It worked miracles on Jaden's disposition.

"I missed you too, Lex. And you know I didn't mean it like that! I was just really interested in the new card…" His hand inched discreetly towards it. Yep, same Jaden. Playfully, Alexis snatched it off the counter seconds before he could.

She winked. "Sorry, Jay, but this card is reserved for one of my favorite students. Just ask Mr. Truesdale!"

Mr. Truesdale did an admirable job of trying to hide from Alexis' gaze. He didn't have to, however, as Jaden had already jumped at the name.

"Truesdale? Do you know Syrus Truesdale, or maybe Zane?" His eagerness spoke volumes to Alexis. Not only had he lost contact with her, he'd probably distanced himself from his former best friend, Syrus, too.

Mr. Truesdale nodded. "My nephews. Quite good duelists, I've heard, but it's been a while since they've come to visit their poor uncle. Pity I don't have any grandnephews from Zane, though."

Alexis chuckled nervously. Once upon a time, Mr. Truesdale had been convinced she was the perfect candidate to bear these grandnephews, and she was petrified that one day he and Atticus were going to meet.

Jaden chuckled too, but his was more heartfelt and loud. "I doubt Zane'll even get married soon. He's too busy losing duels to me, and then denying it ever happened."

So Jaden had had contact with at least one of the Truesdale brothers. It sounded exactly like the Zane that Alexis had grown up with, and left a bitter taste in her mouth. Jaden turned his head back to her.

"Wait, Lex, did you say you were saving the card for your student? I didn't know you were a duel monsters teacher!"

Mr. Truesdale was giving Alexis a knowing look. Looks like that, from either him or Atticus or her old girlfriends, never boded well. It was the kind of look sneaky people gave to their unwitting targets, and Alexis felt plenty unwitting at the moment.

"Didn't know she was a teacher? That's one of the best things about her! Alexis, dear, you and your friend really need to do some catching up! Here, why don't you two go off and reacquaint yourselves, and I'll finish unpacking these boxes." Mr. Truesdale halted her half-hearted protests. "And you can even keep the new card, Alexis, I'm sure Mickie will love it." He gave her a mischievous grin that left little room for disagreement. Jaden looked faintly disappointed that he couldn't get the card, but warmed to the idea quickly.

Mr. Truesdale quickly shooed them out of the shop. Alexis couldn't help the little scuffle her unwilling feet were causing on the floor.

"So, Alexis, what do you wanna do? It's your city, so it's your call." Jaden said, as soon as they were out the door. God forbid, he actually looked eager to spend time with her. Alexis nodded absentmindedly. There wasn't a car in sight, so Jaden walked to the store, which meant he had probably rented a room at a nearby hotel. Her house was actually close to the nearest hotel she could think of, which gave her an excuse to make him leave early. On the other hand, if she went to a café or restaurant, she could leave as soon as the meal was over.

But this was Jaden and he'd probably follow her home after eating anyway, so Alexis made her decision fairly quickly.

"How about we go to my house? It's actually pretty close by." Alexis said, quietly. Jaden gave her a thumbs-up.

"Sounds great!"

On the inside, Alexis whimpered. What were you supposed to say at a time like this? It had been five years since she'd last seen him, last talked to him. Last watched him take the burden of the entire world on his shoulders. Nowadays, Jaden was a pro duelist, and a pretty good one too; he had never lost a single official duel. Not to Zane, not to Aster, not to Chazz. Not to any other big-name duelist in the circuit.

But it was hard to keep track of Jaden the way he traveled. Sometimes he dueled tiny, unheard of tournaments in the Americas; sometimes he made the occasional appearance at international events in the Europeans. His fan base was practically nonexistent, eschewed in favor of duelists that made frequent, widely-broadcasted appearances. His voice startled her out of her thoughts.

"So, you're a teacher now, huh."

She nodded. "I dropped studying abroad two years after leaving the Academy. It just felt different without all my friends." She cast a discreet glance at him. "So I just wandered for awhile before finding this little school building scheduled for demolition. I pulled the last of my funds to buy and repair the place-the rest, they say, is history."

The corners of her mouth tugged back fondly. Jaden noticed.

"I guess you like teaching, then. Any names I should look out for? With a teacher as great as you, I might actually have some competition someday." Jaden winked. He was still confident, and exuberant-but true. Jaden was still a lead contender for the title 'King of Games', if only he dueled more big-name tournaments.

The compliment brought a blush to her cheeks. She fought it down valiantly, but in the end, the redness won out, and dusted all over her cheeks and nose. Jaden laughed.

"Someday? You've underestimated me, Jaden. I have kids that could wipe the floor with you!" The mock-playfulness felt good. It felt normal, like there wasn't a five-year gap between their last meeting.

"Really, Lex? Like that Mickie kid, I guess. Should I watch out for him?"

Alexis nodded sternly, but was belied by her blush. " Exactly. Mickie could whip your Elemental Heroes deck with his in no time."

They turned the corner that led up to her street. The sun had set, and the nightlights were flickering on. Her house was almost in sight.

Jaden stepped marginally closer to her, and bent down to her ear. "And what if I challenge him? Then who would you cheer for?" He whispered in her ear, trying to act threatening, and his breathe rolled down her skin to places that gave her chills. She jumped involuntarily, and shifted slight away from him.

"Of course for him, you big bully." Alexis reprimanded, the card Mr. Truesdale had given her tucked inside her purse. She took it out with a flourish. "Of course, with this card, he wouldn't need my help."

Jaden laughed. Two seconds too late, Alexis realized her fatal mistake, but the card had already been snatched out of her hand. Five years ago, it wouldn't have mattered, but now Jaden was taller than her and even if she jumped, she couldn't reach the card he held over his head.

"Ha! This is just proof you're a bully, Jaden, give that card back!" Alexis jumped for it. Jaden just shifted his hand back, and she landed on his shoulder with a thump. Jaden steadied her with his other hand.

"Not a bully, Lex, just a guy teasing his best friend." His hand is on her shoulder, and somehow, warmth is spreading across her entire body. It didn't help that their faces were only a couple inches apart and she could feel his breathe on her cheek, either. By all rights she should have felt the chilly night wind, but her shoulder was on fire and her cheeks were about to combust with the heat.

It felt like five years hasn't passed at all.

Abruptly, Jaden released his hold on her shoulder and the card fell from his hand into hers. She stowed it away in her purse, and by the time she looked up Jaden had moved to a safe two feet away. Alexis sighed. What just happened?

"Nice house. This is yours, right?" Jaden said, and Alexis looked up. It was her house alright, a cute two-story brick townhouse with a blue mailbox. She had painted it with the remnants of her Obelisk pride, but had soft-heartedly left the flag red. Eventually, she had decided it looked better that way.

"Yeah, I just moved here a few months ago." Not very long, relative to her school, but she'd been proud of the little townhouse when she'd finally saved up enough to move in. Her family had too, hosted a little house-warming party that her parents, Atticus, and some old friends had attended. She hadn't been face-to-face with Mindy and Jasmine since then, but they kept up a steady email flow. Zane had all but disappeared from her life after that.

"I like it. The mailbox adds a nice touch." She couldn't help but smile at that. Jaden had already gone down her driveway, examining all her lawn ornaments and shrubbery. She watched him, a little swell of contentment rising in her heart.

"Ohhh! Sweet duel gnome, Lex!" Jaden was prodding her lawn gnome, a little trinket Atticus had given her when she moved it. It was holding several ceramic duel monsters cards.

"Thanks, it was from Atticus. But the other half of his gift was an online matchmaker account, so don't get too excited. His gift-giving skills are still as horrible as always." She wrinkled her nose and Jaden laughed. It was worth it, a little embarrassing story, for that laugh.

Jaden was already halfway up her porch. He would have probably gone into her house, too, while she was still at the end of the driveway, if she didn't have the key. He started feeling the lining above her door and flipping the welcome mat-Alexis giggled.

"What are you doing?"

Jaden looked at her like she was crazy, and it was perfectly obvious what he was doing. "Looking for a spare key, of course. How else am I supposed to get into your house when you're away?"

Alexis laughed even louder, but only because he was completely serious. It was funny, him standing on her porch and trying to break into her house, when for all that time she had been the one trying to break herself out of him, and fully adapt to a life without Jaden Yuki. She walked over to him, and opened her door. It swung open with a bang, and within seconds, Jaden had swept the two of them into her home.

Alexis liked the way her house was decorated. The color scheme was predominately green-a nice, verdant color unassociated with any of the dorms. The couches were beige, though, and provided a nice contrast. But most of this was probably lost on Jaden, as he threw himself onto the leather couch with a flop. He had lost his shoes sometime before this exchange, and he propped his feet on one of the armrests.

"This is a sweet couch, Lex. Makes me wish I could've crashed on something like this back when I was a Slifer." His eyes were closed, so she didn't fear him seeing her frantically eyeing him, her gaze wondering from his face to the length of his whole body.

"Yeah, but Crowler would've just confiscated it then." Alexis responded, absent-minded, and the conversation dissolved into silence. Jaden seemed at ease, his head lolled back and a tiny grin etched across his face.

But for Alexis, the echoing silence was like the devouring chasm that had opened up between her and Jaden.

_Where have you been?_, she wanted to say, _who have you met?_ There were more personal questions too, like _have you thought about me?_ and _did you miss me as much as I missed you? _that stacked on top of each other in such a magnificent tower of misery it threatened to collapse atop her. Because truthfully, the five years Jaden was away gave Alexis time to think. Melancholy tears turned to fits of obsession turned to burning rage turned to cold indifference all ceased to matter when she caught sight of his face on the television or heard a rumor of him through the grapevine, which triggered the entire cycle once again.

Jaden stirred. Had he really fallen asleep on her couch? It gave her the sudden urge to cry.

"I missed you guys so much while I was away." He murmured drowsily. His words were slightly slurred with the haze of sleep. "I'm so glad I met you, Lex."

_You had to say it._

And that took her back. Back to before starting her own duel school and before she left the Academy, before even a world of omniscient darkness and to a time when she had a partner for a school duel that was cold, callous, and withdrawn. To a time where Jaden Yuki didn't seem so unobtainable and faraway, like he did now.

Alexis wanted to say, _I'm glad I met you too, Jaden,_ but the words caught in her throat. She tried to force them out, make herself into the person she wanted herself to be-but they choked her, fought her, told her horrible truths that bound her to the person she was. Instead of returning the gesture, maintaining the fragile friendship this visit was preserving, three words Alexis had held back for eight years struggled out of her mouth.

"I love you."

Her mouth formed into a horrified circle.

_I didn't. _

Alexis ran. Out of the living room and through the hallway and into her kitchen, with one hand clenched around her mouth. Her eyes diluted and she blinked rapidly but the annoying wetness didn't go away; soon, tears rolled down her face and she was sobbing loudly, so loudly she was sure Jaden could hear it. Alexis was too frightened to check for his reaction-as soon as the words left her, she had bolted, and now Jaden was sure to leave her house and her city and forget he had ever had a best friend in a little blonde girl crying in her kitchen.

The thought strengthened her sobs. Her tears were probably creating a little pool on the table.

Alexis suddenly looked up when she heard footsteps in the hallway. Maybe it was Atticus, she thought wildly, and maybe she could grab the liquor before the footsteps reached her. Alexis was sick of pretending she didn't want to run away from her problems. Her distraught mind had already dubbed the alcohol an acceptable idea, too, and her hand was halfway there before the footsteps stopped and the person she least wanted to see was standing in the door way to her kitchen. She tried to keep her gaze firmly on his feet-but they wandered up to his eyes before she could stop herself.

Jaden had the same blank look on his face as when he first saw her. He leaned casually against the doorframe, hands in his pockets, wonderfully nonchalant while she cried on her kitchen floor and considered the benefits of alcoholism.

He didn't say anything. Alexis hadn't expected him to, but it hurt all the same, his lack of response. "Look, Jaden, if you don't have anything to say, you can just leave now."

Her words come out crueler than she intended. Her mouth is turning against her today: spitting out words she had kept locked away for eight years, then turning him against her with her venomous retorts. If nothing else, they snapped him out of his daze.

Alexis looked away, ashamed. Rejection was one thing, but responding by trying to alienate him? That definitely made her a bad person, and nobody could blame him for walking away from her. A calloused hand tilted her chin upwards-Alexis flinched, awaiting a blow or a biting response or maybe even a gently letdown-but instead, she felt a pressure on her lips and a coursing happiness through her nerve endings.

Jaden was kissing her.

It didn't make sense. But if Alexis had learned anything from her two years of floating from place to place, searching for a home, it was that things didn't have to. America had been fast-paced and casual the same way France was elegant, but nothing could've compared to her little home in Domino City, teaching children who loved her like she was a forgotten goddess of the suburbs. Right now, she didn't have to understand or grasp what Jaden was thinking, just feel her way through things.

And so she kissed him back.

_This is a bad idea, _the rational part of her mind screamed, _don't go there. _Alexis ignored it. Rational and logical meant nothing when Jaden had his hands on her waist and his lips on hers, when all of her feelings were just making her cry harder.

And then, wonder of all wonders, Jaden begun kissing her tears away. One moment his lips were on her mouth and then they weren't, leaving her empty, like a newly discovered extension of her body was gone. But soon she felt his mouth on her cheek and his tongue lick away her tears, and her eyes widened in surprise. Nothing made sense, but she was learning, and Jaden was telling her more than he would ever say with words through his actions.

"I-I love you." Alexis said again, through her tears, and she looked like a blubbering mess but Jaden must not have cared, because he tugged her through the doorway by her waist and into her bedroom.

_I love you. _

* * *

The morning after is always the worst.

Alexis awoke with a muddled head and a soreness between her legs that harshly yanked her down to earth, and back to the ramifications of the choice she made the night before. _Jaden, Jaden,_ she was screaming in her head, but no sound came out, _where are you? _

There was a slight weight at the foot of her head. Alexis tried to shift from her current position-one arm and leg thrown out, which told her she had been cuddled around something in her sleep-to face it, but she got tangled in the sheets. A tanned hand reached out to gently straighten out the sheets on top of her-

_The same hand on her shoulder, her hip, her leg, and she was crying and screaming and happy._

_-_and she flinched away, drawing the fabric like a shield around her.

"You're leaving." She said, accusingly. Jaden was sitting at the foot of her head, fully dressed in his clothes from the day before, with his feet planted on the floor and his head cradled in his hands. Alexis was still naked underneath the covers, a cool reminder that this was really the decision she had made. Jaden nodded.

"And you're going to forget about me." She continued, the same reproving tone in her voice. Jaden sighed, low and heartfelt, as if this this was a hard a decision for him as it was for her.

_Liar. He's the one walking out._

"No, Lex, I won't forget about you." Jaden said, like an adult gently reprimanding a child. Alexis used the same voice with her students. "Despite whatever you may think, I didn't mean for this to be a one night stand."

"Then why are making it into one?" Alexis spat back, and this time it was meant to sound venomous and confrontational but came out more like a heartbroken whisper. He was _leaving_, he had _used _her_, _and now he was tossing her away once she'd run out of emotions to give him.

"Do you remember our last year at the Academy? When Trueman pulled the whole world into darkness?"

How could she forget? It had inspired an irrational phobia inside of her that drove her across the world, until she finally settled in Domino City, to overcome her fears of falling short. Alexis had taken up teaching, after nightmares of failing at the very thing. Her last year at Duel Academy had been the start of many things: her time as an international student. Her crippling self-esteem. Her five year hiatus from Jaden Yuki.

Alexis looked him straight in the eye, and dared him to continue.

"After that year, and my graduation duel, I had time to do some thinking. Dueling is my life, my passion-but something was missing. Something has always been missing from my life, and now, before I settle anywhere, I need to find it. The world is a big place, Lex; I've been to Venice, New York, Tokyo, and I've dueled the best duelists across the world. I've done things that make our time at the Academy seem like child's play. But I still haven't found the piece of the puzzle that makes everything fall together. Do you understand?"

Alexis felt a familiar wetness in the back of her eyes. But this time, she kept it down, and forced her throat to overcome an irritating scratchiness so she could say anything. Jaden was looking at her expectantly. "I-I think I understand."

That was all she could say. Jaden seemed to expect as much, and tenderly placed his hand atop hers. It looked right, she thought vehemently, his darker and larger hand atop of her paler one. But now he was leaving, to go to the ends of the earth so he could find himself, and everything was going to be wrong again. The wetness in her eyes was growing stronger.

"I have to leave now, Lex."

_Don't go! _Or at least, she amended, _not yet. _She had to say something, anything, to keep him from leaving so soon. His warm hand was withdrawing from hers and it felt like her entire world was going cold-soon, the comfortable weight on her mattress would be gone too and she would have to piece together her life after Jaden Yuki again.

"My purse is near the front door. Inside is the card Mr. Truesdale gave me-I'd like you to have it." Alexis said, and her hand curled around the bed sheets. "And there's the key to my house, which you'll need to break in while I'm away."

"I'd like that." Jaden smiled. She drank in the sight like a woman dying of thirst, memorizing the lines of his face, the fall of his hair, and the muscles of his arm. Jaden pulled farther from her, stood up from his seat on her bed, and then he was pulling away, towards the door, and out of her line of sight. Alexis stared at him as long as she could, watched the movement of his legs, his hands, his back-she heard the decisive click of the front door.

Jaden Yuki was gone, again. And Alexis Rhodes, who had lost him for five years, rediscovered him for a night, and then lost him again, cried.

People change in five years. But as Alexis found on a morning where she didn't wake up alone but felt the same for it, sometimes they don't change enough.

* * *

"_please just forget me,  
when i'm out all alone on the east coast  
and please don't forgive me,  
when you're home all alone and you need me the most"_

_-_If I Only Had the Heart: The Maine  
_  
_


End file.
